Network Firewall Installation Owner Income: $180k Salary, $0 Draws
Under the researched assumptions, the owner’s modeled income is a $180,000 annual founder salary, but profit-based take-home is $0 because the business runs at a loss Year 1 revenue is $205,350, with 80% gross margin after software licensing, tools, hardware, and equipment costs Here’s the quick math: $205,350 revenue minus 33% direct and variable costs leaves about $137,585 before $402,000 fixed overhead, $770,000 payroll, and $150,000 marketing Even by Year 5, revenue rises to about $327 million, but operating profit is still about negative $103 million under this staffing and marketing plan
Owner income$180kNet margin-50%Revenue for target pay$1.65MBusiness difficultyHard
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Owner income calculator
Estimate owner take-home and target-pay gap from revenue, margin, costs, reserves, and target pay for a network firewall installation service.
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Planning note: Research-based planning estimate only. It is not guaranteed salary, tax advice, or owner distribution advice.
Want to see what changes owner income fastest?
1
Project Volume
120-750
More signed projects spread the $402K fixed base, and CAC easing from $1,250 to $800 makes growth cheaper.
2
Project Price
$125-$290
Higher hourly pricing lifts billings on each install and support job without the same jump in labor.
3
Gross Margin
80%-87%
Keeping hardware and software costs tight protects the spread on every firewall job.
4
Labor Efficiency
67%-78%
Keeping technician hours tight raises contribution margin, so more of each sale turns into owner cash.
5
Support Revenue
$1.7K-$4.4K
Attached monitoring, compliance, and response work raises revenue per customer from $1,711 to $4,366.
6
Fixed Overhead
$402K
With $402K of annual fixed overhead, break-even stays around month 19 unless project flow and mix improve.
How many firewall installations per month to make a living?
For a Network Firewall Installation Service, 10 installs per month is not enough to make a full living once payroll, overhead, and marketing are included; it produces $205,350 in annual revenue and about $137,585 in contribution before those costs. Based on the model in How To Launch Network Firewall Installation Service Business?, the target is about 96 installs per month at $1,711 average revenue and a 67% contribution margin to cover $1.322 million in Year 1 costs, including a $180,000 founder salary.
Break-even math
10 installs/month creates $205,350 revenue
$137,585 contribution before fixed costs
96 installs/month covers Year 1 costs
$180,000 founder salary is included
Scale reality
88 customers/month needed by Year 5 economics
$4,366 attached revenue per customer
78% Year 5 contribution margin
625 customers/month planned Year 5 volume
What is the profit margin on firewall installation services?
How much revenue does a firewall installation service make per client?
A Network Firewall Installation Service can make about $1,711 per customer in Year 1 using the stated mix, with scope ranging from $1,000 for basic firewall management to $2,625 for advanced threat monitoring. By Year 5, that mix rises to about $4,366 per customer as more clients buy monitoring, compliance, and response support, meaning more add-on services per account. Actual quotes still depend on sites, hours, VPNs, segmentation, failover, documentation, and compliance needs.
Year 1 revenue per client
$1,000 basic firewall management
$2,625 advanced threat monitoring
$2,400 compliance security work
$1,250 incident response support
Year 5 revenue per client
$1,450 basic firewall management
$3,857 advanced threat monitoring
$3,712 compliance security work
$2,610 incident response support
Key Takeaways
Revenue rises with volume, but capacity must keep pace.
Scope control protects margin on advanced firewall projects.
Hardware and software markups determine most gross profit.
Fixed overhead and callbacks can erase take-home.
Compare owner income scenarios using the researched model years
Owner income scenarios
Owner income changes fast here because payroll, marketing, and fixed security infrastructure are heavy before revenue scales. Package mix also matters, since monitoring and compliance carry better margins than basic firewall work.
Low, base, and high planning cases for owner income.
Scenario
Low CaseDownside case
Base CaseBase case
High CaseUpside case
Launch model
This is the weaker earnings path, with launch-year scale still too small to absorb fixed overhead.
This is the modeled path, where the business reaches steady scale and starts covering its cost base.
This is the stronger earnings path, where scale and service mix push profit far above the early years.
Typical setup
Year 1 reaches about $1.232M in revenue and -$616k EBITDA while payroll, marketing, and SOC costs stay front-loaded.
Year 3 reaches about $5.402M in revenue and $1.126M EBITDA as higher-value monitoring and compliance work lift margin.
Year 5 reaches about $15.721M in revenue and $7.763M EBITDA with a larger share of advanced monitoring and compliance work.
Cost drivers
Customer volume
basic service mix
payroll load
marketing spend
fixed SOC overhead
Package mix
recurring monitoring demand
CAC trend
staff growth
fixed overhead
Higher customer count
premium package mix
CAC decline
labor efficiency
fixed-cost dilution
Owner income rangeBefore owner reserves
-$616kLow
$1.1MBase
$7.8MHigh
Best fit
Use this to stress-test the business if sales ramp slower than planned.
Use this as the main planning case for budgeting and hiring.
Use this to test upside if sales execution and retention stay strong.
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Planning note: These scenario ranges are researched planning assumptions, not guaranteed earnings, salary promises, tax advice, or distribution forecasts.
Network Firewall Installation Service Core Six Income Drivers
Project Volume
Firewall Project Volume
Owner income starts with how many installs close and finish cleanly. In Year 1, 120 customers at $1,250 CAC implies $150,000 in marketing spend; by Year 5, 750 customers at $800 CAC implies $600,000. More volume lifts revenue only if the extra jobs are completed on time and without avoidable rework.
The limit is delivery capacity, not lead flow. If technician scheduling, documentation, onboarding, and quality control slip, each added project can create callbacks, contractor cost, and slower cash collection, which cuts the owner’s take-home pay. One clean rule: more installs help only when every job stays profitable after labor and fixes.
Track Volume Against Capacity
Measure new installs sold, jobs completed, CAC, callback rate, and backlog. The quick math is simple: 120 × $1,250 = $150,000 in Year 1 marketing spend, and 750 × $800 = $600,000 in Year 5. If CAC improves but callbacks rise, the volume gain is fake profit.
Match jobs to technician hours.
Standardize onboarding and handoff notes.
Stop selling past capacity.
Charge separately for rework.
Volume should rise only when each install stays clean, billed, and collectible.
Technician Labor Efficiency
Technician Labor Efficiency
When firewall work takes more hours than planned, owner pay gets squeezed fast. In Year 1, service time is 8 hours for basic management, 15 hours for advanced monitoring, 12 hours for compliance, and 5 hours for incident response; by Year 5, those rise to 10, 19, 16, and 9 hours. That means more labor per client, more rework risk, and less margin unless pricing covers the extra time.
Here’s the quick math: a senior cybersecurity engineer costs $120,000 per FTE, or about $10,000 per month before extras, and third-party contractors run 5% of revenue in Year 1. If billable setup hours are priced before onsite surprises, labor stays closer to plan; if not, travel, troubleshooting, and callbacks turn revenue into low-quality profit.
Price the Hours, Not the Guess
Track labor by job type: basic management, advanced monitoring, compliance, and incident response. Compare quoted hours to actual hours, then separate installation, travel, rework, and handoff time. If actual labor keeps running above the quoted 8, 15, 12, or 5 hours, the model is underpriced and owner take-home drops even when sales look strong.
Protect margin with scope notes, onsite checklists, and change orders for surprises. Use in-house engineers for repeatable work and contractors only when the schedule needs it, because contractor spend at 5% of revenue can rise fast if jobs are messy. One clean quote beats three unpaid site visits.
Average Project Value
Average Project Value
When each firewall job is worth more, owner income rises faster than headcount. Average project value moves from $1,711 in Year 1 to about $4,366 in Year 5, so the same install volume can produce much more revenue. At 10 jobs a month, that is about $17,110 versus $43,660 before recurring support and overhead.
The key inputs are project mix and attach rates. Higher-value work comes from advanced monitoring, compliance packages, VPN and rules setup, network segmentation, failover, and documentation. A $2,625 advanced setup can still miss margin if hours, travel, or troubleshooting run long, so scope control directly protects the owner draw.
Price to Scope, Not Just to Close
Track average sale by package, not just total jobs. Split base install from add-ons like monitoring, compliance, segmentation, and documentation so you can see which items lift revenue and which ones drag labor. One clean rule: if the scope is vague, the margin is probably leaking.
Measure quoted value versus actual hours.
Flag jobs with travel overages.
Review troubleshooting on every closeout.
Price before the work starts, then compare estimated vs. actual hours on every job. If average project value rises but rework rises too, revenue looks better while owner take-home falls. Clear scope keeps gross profit steady and makes cash flow easier to forecast.
Hardware And Software Margin
Firewall Hardware and Software Margin
This driver is the spread between client revenue and direct product costs for firewall gear and licenses. In Year 1, 12% software and tools plus 8% hardware and equipment leave 80% gross margin; by Year 5 those costs drop to 7% and 6%, lifting gross margin to 87%. That extra 7 points flows to owner pay only after labor and overhead.
Owner income changes based on whether hardware and subscriptions are marked up, passed through, or bundled with labor. At 80% gross margin, every $1 of revenue keeps $0.80 before technicians, rent, and taxes; at 87%, it keeps $0.87. Do not model vendor discounts or resale rights unless they’re in a signed agreement.
Track Cost-to-Revenue by Job
Measure hardware cost, software/license cost, and the final invoice on each deployment. Keep a simple job file showing markup, pass-through items, and bundle pricing, so you can see which jobs hit the 80% to 87% gross margin range and which ones leak profit through free add-ons or scope creep.
Use the same rule in the forecast: separate hardware, software, and labor. If hardware is passed through, margin stays thinner; if it is marked up, owner draw improves, but only when the contract allows it and support time does not rise with the sale. One bad resale assumption can wipe out the gain.
Track actual hardware cost per job.
Track license cost and renewals.
Show markup by line item.
Confirm vendor terms in writing.
Recurring Support Revenue
Recurring Firewall Support Revenue
Recurring support smooths income because it turns one-time installs into monthly cash flow, but it only helps owner pay if the work is priced for real service load. The revenue mix shifts toward higher-value support, with advanced threat monitoring moving from 25% to 45%, compliance security packages from 20% to 40%, and incident response support from 10% to 30%.
Here’s the catch: support is not pure margin. Response time, tools, staffing, and after-hours coverage all add cost, so underpricing support can raise revenue and still lower take-home income. If the monthly support fee does not cover those obligations, the owner ends up financing service promises with profit from installs.
Price the Coverage, Not the Headline
Track monthly billable hours, response commitments, after-hours coverage, and tool spend by client. Then set support pricing so the recurring fee covers the service mix, not just the firewall software. One clean rule: if the plan includes monitoring and response, it should pay for people, tools, and on-call time.
Measure support hours by client.
Separate monitoring from response.
Price after-hours work separately.
Review mix shifts quarterly.
Protect margin before promising speed.
Fixed Overhead
Fixed Overhead
For this firewall installation business, fixed overhead is the monthly cost that must be paid before the owner sees real take-home. Here it is $33,500 per month, or $402,000 per year, across rent, insurance, legal and accounting, telecommunications, supplies, training, travel, and security operations center infrastructure. If gross profit does not clear that base, owner pay gets squeezed fast.
Here’s the quick math: owner take-home = gross profit - fixed overhead - reserves. Reserves matter because warranty work, callbacks, equipment issues, training, and slow collections all hit cash. Even with the same revenue, a lower cost base can lift take-home, while a heavy overhead load can erase the benefit of better sales or a falling CAC of $800.
Control the Burn Rate
Track fixed costs monthly and separate them from job costs. The owner should watch rent, payroll-linked admin spend, telecom, legal, accounting, and security operations center costs as a share of gross profit, not just revenue. With marketing rising from $150,000 to $600,000, the business still needs enough margin to cover the fixed base before any owner draw.
Build a reserve line for post-install issues and slow collections, then test whether each added client still leaves room after overhead. If CAC falls from $1,250 to $800 but overhead stays high, the extra sales may not improve pay. The goal is simple: keep monthly overhead low enough that recurring support and project profit can fund the owner without stress.
